When Albemarle senior quarterback Amaje Parker raced 60 yards for his third rushing touchdown, to go along with one through the air, he opened a 28-7 lead with 8:12 still to go in the second quarter. At that point, one could be forgiven for taking a look at other Friday night scores or streaming content on your phone.
But even if you watched every play of a contest that stretched three hours and twenty minutes, Monticello’s 37-36 victory was still stunning.
“This is the fourth come-from-behind win this team’s had this year,” said Monticello coach Matt Hicks. “We’ve got three very dedicated, very talented senior inside linebackers, Vicente de la Cruz, Asher Cornwell, and Austin Wood. Our defensive coordinator, Coach Ayers, asked them, ‘are you going to let one person beat you tonight?’ They said no and were willing to step up and own that. Along with Juelz Christmas-Jackson rotating through there, they knew what their job was. We told our coverage guys, we’re going to man up, play cover one, and commit every other resource we can to making sure we keep the quarterback where he needs to be.”
Remarkably, Albemarle’s offense did not produce another score after Parker’s 60-yard dash, while junior Tre Early emerged as the Mustangs’ answer on offense. Early, who began at receiver, shifted into the backfield late in the second quarter and from that point amassed 116 yards and three scores on 18 rushes.
“[Ezekiel Pour] got knocked out in the first half, but we were able to put Tre in and I think he acquitted himself very well with the first play in the second half being a touchdown run,” said Hicks. “And then the last score we had was Tre punching it in. Our wide receivers and tight ends came up with big catches at huge times. Our quarterback placed the ball where it had to be in big moments. But we’re always going to lean on that run game because that’s where we’ve got the best chance to control the ball, control the clock, and win the game.”
Having fallen behind by three scores, Monticello’s offense put together a nine-play, 55-yard drive to respond, capped by Early’s first touchdown from 3 yards. The Patriots aided the cause with three penalties, including a roughing-the-passer that offered a fresh set of downs after stopping a third-and-goal pass at the 6. The Mustangs’ defense then came up with their first stop of the night after Parker led Albemarle down to the red zone. After a holding penalty nullified a 24-yard score on a keeper, junior linebacker D’rhon Jackson stepped into a pass lane inside the 10 and grabbed his first interception. The scoreboard read 28-13 at the break, with Monticello down but not out.
“I think it took a half to realize just how [Albemarle’s] offense really works with such a talented quarterback,” said Hicks. “They’ve got some good, very talented big guys up front. It was easy for us to get worked up the field, and that creates open running lanes. If you give those gaps in the pocket, Amaje’s going to take advantage of it, and he really did.”
The second half began with a flurry of three touchdowns in two minutes and 24 seconds. Albemarle began by attempting an onside kick, which Monticello fell on at the AHS 49. Early took a handoff on the first snap and raced 49 yards for six, and the Mustangs were within one possession.
“I saw an open hole and I took it,” said Early. “I knew my team was down so I had to come out with a big play.”
But the Patriots grabbed back momentum as senior Noah Grevious took the ensuing kickoff 93 yards to the house and then caught Parker’s two-point conversion pass to make it 36-20.
“Albemarle has some tremendously talented players, and all week we tried to explain to our guys just how significant of a role those players play,” Hicks said, as Monticello’s remaining kickoffs would be shorter bouncers, or otherwise directed away from Grevious.
Early, who has two kickoff plus one fumble-recovery scoring returns to his credit this season, gave Monticello’s offense excellent starting position by returning the Patriots’ next kickoff across midfield.
“Even when we were scoring, we were giving them short fields,” said Albemarle coach Brandon Isaiah. “They were able to run the ball, play ball control, and doing it from the 50 is a lot different than doing it from the 20, making them play more plays.”
Junior MHS quarterback Owen Engel hit Early with a short pass that he turned into a 37-yard gain down inside the 10. Three plays later, Christmas-Jackson scored on a 3-yard rush. AHS still held a two-possession lead at 36-27, but the rest of the game had an entirely-different feel. Monticello’s defense stuffed two runs and forced the first and only three-and-out of the night. The offense then marched 68 yards in 15 plays, stretching more than eight minutes. A false start flag threatened to thwart the drive inside the 10, but Early picked up a first down stumbling forward for three yards on fourth-and-3. He plowed in for a four-yard touchdown on the next play.
“I knew I had to get in there and score so we could come back, get a stop, and get another score,” Early said, as Monticello pulled within 36-34 as the third quarter ended.
“With the run game, it just takes time,” said Hicks. “It’s going to wear on people. They just keep pushing, they keep grinding, and eventually that takes its toll on the guys across the ball from them. I put our offensive line against anybody that we’ve seen this year. They’re very disciplined; heck, they were in my office this morning on the white board going through every blocking scheme, every blitz that [Albemarle] could possibly run. These guys are so dedicated to their craft up front.”
AHS drove back into the redzone early in the fourth thanks to a 27-yard Parker scramble and two 15-yard penalties on MHS. But inside the 10, the defense contained three rushes before Zayden Simpson picked off Parker’s fourth-down heave in the endzone.
Starting at their own 20 with eight-and-a-half left in the game, Monticello began another methodical march down the field. Early took handoffs on the first four plays to pick up 24 yards and two first downs. Engel got the next two first downs through the air with passes to Christmas-Jackson and D’rhon Jackson, the latter good for 35 yards on third-and-16. In the redzone, AHS finally penned in Early as three runs left MHS facing fourth-and-8 at the 14. AHS called timeout with 1:34 remaining, and Hicks turned to his junior kicker for the first field goal attempt of the season.
“Everything shut down,” said Oziel Jara Castillo, who nailed the 30-yard field goal through the uprights, capping the Mustangs’ long rally. “I would just say it’s the cherry on top to the win.”
Castillo is a three-way player for MHS, wearing number 55 and seeing action on both the offensive and defensive lines while also handling kicking and punting duties.
“He’s amazing,” said Hicks. “Two years ago, I walked up to him in the hall and asked what sports he played. He said soccer only, and we convinced him to come in as a kicker. Then we tricked him into being one heck of a nose tackle and right guard.”
AHS still had a chance in the last 90 seconds, but the offense had to focus on reaching the endzone with no kicker available..
“We had an injury and weren’t able to kick in the back end of the game,” said Isaiah. “We still should’ve been able to execute and score a touchdown, we just didn’t make the plays.”
Parker got things started with a 19-yard run, and then overcame a holding penalty with a 33-yard connection to Grevious down to the MHS 33. As the clock ticked under 30 seconds, Parker dropped back and rolled left as three Mustang defenders converged. He launched a pass to the back of the endzone for Isaiah Harris, but Brandon Herring was there to make the interception for MHS, sealing the first victory over AHS since 2017.
“[Brandon] has been a knockout player for us all year,” said Hicks. “He was a receiver the last two years, and senior year he said he wanted to help the team any way he can. We’ve had him over at safety and he’s come up big in so many games for us. He’s a standout player on both sides of the ball and he came up huge in that moment.”
Herring led all receivers with eight receptions for 86 yards on the night as Engel completed 14-of-20 passes for 225 yards. On the home side, Grevious caught five balls for 73 yards as Parker accounted for nearly 400 yards of offense on the night (240 rushing, 144 passing). With the Patriots facing fourth-and-2 on the game’s opening series, he broke a keeper for a 53-yard touchdown. On Albemarle’s second possession, he hit Harris for a 20-yard score. After Pour capped a 65-yard MHS drive to make it 14-7 late in the first quarter, AHS drove 76 yards in 11 plays, with Parker cruising in from 11 yards out early in the second. MHS failed to take advantage of excellent field position as its next series ended on downs at the AHS 35. Moments later, Parker’s longest run of the night opened a three-touchdown lead.
“The game kind of changed a little bit in the second quarter with the injury and layoff,” said Isaiah, as the game was halted for about 20 minutes as medical personnel attended to an AHS defender after a collision. Fortunately, AHS staff indicated the player was responsive and were optimistic about his status. “From that point, we had some struggles getting back going. Monticello did everything they needed to do to win. Hats off to them and what they’re doing this year.”
Albemarle (3-4, 3-1) will look to bounce back next Friday at Charlottesville (0-7, 0-4). Monticello (5-2, 3-1) returns home for another cross-county rivalry matchup against Western (0-7, 0-4).
